UP Panchayat Poll : Voting for 1st phase begins in 18 districts

Lucknow,  15 April  (HS) :      Polling for the first phase of three-tier Panchayat elections began in 18 districts of Uttar Pradesh on Thursday at 7 am amids tight security arrangements and as per the COVID guidelines. Voters are casting votes through ballot papers. The polling will continue till 6 pm.

There are over 3.33 lakh candidates in the fray for more than 2.21 lakh seats. Their fates will be decided by over 3.16 crore voters, who will exercise their franchise at 51176 polling booths today from 7 am to 6 pm.  The counting of votes will take place on May 2.

The candidates are contesting for the post of Zila Panchayat Members, Block Panchayat Members, Gram Pradhan and Village Panchayat Members. For Zila Panchayat Members 11,447 candidates are in the fray from 779 wards and 81,747 candidates are contesting in 19313 wards of Block Panchayats. Besides, there are 1,14,142 candidates for 14,789 post of Gram Pradhans and 1,26,613 candidates are contesting for 1,86,583 seats of Village Panchayat Members.

The 18 districts of first phase, where the polls are being held today include Aydhya, Agra, Kanpur Nagar, Ghaziabad, Gorakhpur, Jaunpur, Jhansi, Prayagraj, Bareilly,Bhadohi, Mahoba, Rampur, Raebareli, Shravasti, Sant Kabir Nagar, Saharanpur, Hardoi and Hathras.

The State Election Commission has made adequate security arrangements to ensure free, fair and peaceful polling. Heavy police force including PAC and homeguards have been deployed at the polling stations. Besides 468 Zonal and 2976 Sector Magistrates, 23 IAS and PCS officers have been deployed as observers to maintain law and order on the day.

In view of the covid-19 surge the CORONA guidelines are being followed at the polling stations.